There was an audible gasp last month when publishing group Emap announced the closure of Smash Hits magazine after 28 years as the pop industry’s bible. It came as a shock to fans past and present, like losing an old friend.
And so it was for Marcus Rich, managing director of Emap Metro, which published the magazine. But glance at the numbers and you’ll see why his decision was a no-brainer – tough but necessary.
Evolving market
Smash Hits had not delivered a profi t in two years and was at the mercy of capricious, yet alarmingly techno-savvy pre-teens, whose demand for ‘pop news now’ threatens to make obsolete the industry for monthly magazines.
The total circulation of teenybopper fanzines has collapsed by almost a third in recent years, a development which translated to a 25% reduction in advertising spend throughout the market.
Today, kids would rather download the latest gossip instantly on their 3G mobile phones than trek down to the local newsagent for print and paper news that from their point of view must seem like it was written by a scribe with a quill.
But while the fossil that was Smash Hits has finally crumbled, its offspring are in rude health. Some 5.3m people tune into SH! TV every month, 120,000 visit the website every week, and approaching 800,000 get SH radio through their digital televisions.
Importantly, says Rich, all the new platforms are profi table. “We thought long and hard about making this decision. But the world has changed and today’s teen wants different ways to access their music. The good news is that the brand continues,” he says.
“Business is about sensible portfolio management and that has to drive decisions rather than sentiment. We acknowledge that it is sad to say goodbye to an old friend, but it was the right thing to do because the magazine’s time had passed.”
The lesson? Knowing when to cut your losses is as important as knowing how to make things work; and not even iconic loss-leading products should be immune from a good spring clean when it comes to achieving your strategic goals.
In Smash Hits’ case most employees were offered alternative work within Emap, but securing jobs should never be your priority: it could lead to even more losses down the line if your business gets into financial difficulties.